AAP leader Anita Pratap quits official posts

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Anita Pratap has stepped down from all official positions, adding to the embarrassment of the rookie party that is appeared to be battling dissent and exodus after a lacklustre showing in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

Recently, AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal had said the party would undergo a restructuring exercise after reports of senior leader Yogendra Yadav's differences with the top leadership started doing the rounds, and top leader Shazia Ilmi's exit jolted the 19-month-old organisation.

Pratap, a member of the AAP's Kerala executive body and state media coordinator, has reportedly sent her resignation to the top leadership. She fought the general elections from the Ernakulam Lok Sabha seat.

Former south-east Asia chief of CNN, Pratap was the first journalist to interview LTTE chief Vellupillai Prabhakaran in the early-1980s.

It is not immediately known whether Pratap has resigned from the primary membership of the party. At present, she is in Japan.

A party insider said she was upset with the leadership for not giving her due importance. Though Pratap lost her deposit, she managed to bag 50,000 votes in the elections.

Last week, the AAP had made Prof Sara Joseph, an activist-turned-politician who contested in Thrissur, as the national executive member of the party.

Despite its stellar debut in the 2013 Delhi assembly elections, the AAP fared poorly in the general elections, with its top leaders, including Kejriwal, suffering defeat. The party won just four — all in Punjab — of the 543 Lok Sabha seats.